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Onward develops bold and practical ideas for the next generation of centre right thinkers and leaders

REPORT
First Steps: Fixing childcare

Why we need to fix Britain's broken childcare system.

REPORT
Incentivising Innovation: Reforming R&D Tax Credits

How to reform R&D Tax Credits to incentivise innovation when public finances are stretched.

REPORT
Beyond School: The Case for School Enrichment

Why we need a new approach to school enrichment

Jan 23
18:30-
20:00
EVENT

Balancing support for health, high streets and household finances in Britain’s food system

A private Onward roundtable
with:
Dec 13
18:00-
20:30
EVENT

Onward After Hours: Katherine Fletcher MP

Event Full
Onward After Hours
A festive drinks reception for under 35’s
with:
Nov 30
9:00-
10:00
EVENT

Fit for Purpose?

Last Few
Fixing Britain’s outdated competition regime
with:
Recent press
Think tank puts forward ideas to fix the UK’s ‘broken’ childcare system
The Simpsons, childcare and the UK economy…
Tory MP Says Winning Election Is “Nearly Impossible”, Childcare System Is “Failing”, Senior Tory To Quit
The Conservative Reader – Supporting Families
London Playbook: Labour holds Chester — Pestminster returns — Hancock diaries
Does Britain have a problem with R&D spending?
REPORT
First Steps: Fixing childcare

Why we need to fix Britain's broken childcare system.

REPORT
Incentivising Innovation: Reforming R&D Tax Credits

How to reform R&D Tax Credits to incentivise innovation when public finances are stretched.

REPORT
Beyond School: The Case for School Enrichment

Why we need a new approach to school enrichment

Nov 30
9:00-
10:00
EVENT

Fit for Purpose?

Last Few
Fixing Britain’s outdated competition regime
with:
Nov 16
15:30-
17:00
EVENT

Crisis of masculinity

Why are boys now falling behind girls? 
with:
Nov 16
18:00-
20:30
EVENT

Onward After Hours: Alicia Kearns MP

Event Full
Onward After Hours
An Onward drinks reception for u35’s
with:

Onward develops bold and practical ideas for the next generation of centre right thinkers and leaders

Our mission​

Onward is a modernising think tank whose mission is to develop bold and practical ideas to boost economic opportunity and strengthen communities in all parts of the United Kingdom.

We are not affiliated to any party but believe in a mainstream conservatism. We recognise the value of markets and support the good that government can do, and believe that a strong society is the foundation of both. We want to seize the opportunities of the future while preserving the accumulated knowledge of the past. We believe that most people are hard working, aspirational and decent, but that many do not have the opportunities to fulfil their potential.

Our goal is to address the needs of the whole country: young as well as old; urban as well as rural; in all parts of the UK – particularly places that feel neglected or ignored in Westminster – by working with ordinary people directly and developing practical policies that work.

"There was a space on the centre right that we all knew existed but couldn't quite size, couldn't quite articulate. And then Onward came along and spoke to us about a change in politics that had been happening right under our noses. Some truths hidden in plain sight. Onward has always let the quality of its work sound the loudest. And we have all heard it."
Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP
7 June 2022
"Into the arena, Onward stepped. The in-flight refueller. The next modernising thinktank. The engine which ensured that just as the process of government might be wearing thin, the Conservative Party was able to renew and refurbish its message, its personnel, its appeal and its coalition.”
Rt Hon Michael Gove MP
14 January 2020
“Thinktanks are expected to think the unthinkable but I don’t want us to think the unworkable. We have to think things that work politically, that is that pay some attention to whether people support them, where the costs fall and whether they work in practice."
Lord Finkelstein, Chairman of Onward
2018
“The question is how we forge an open-feeling, forward-looking conservatism that speaks equally to all. And I believe Onward is exactly what we need.”
Baroness Davidson, Former Leader of the Scottish Conservatives and Member of the House of Lords
2018
"I admire what you are doing here and we need more of it. Because what you are doing is leading an effort to rethink the meaning of conservatism and you are doing it in a way that is inviting social democrats to rethink their mission too. I think this is desperately needed."
Professor Michael Sandel, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Government Theory at Harvard University Law School
24 May 2022
"One thing that struck us that was informed by the work of Onward was that to make success of levelling up we need to build the economic foundations - the good jobs and businesses that tie up productivity and innovation. But as importantly, we need also to build those social foundations, buttressing and replenishing social capital and rebuilding social infrastructure...That’s why we had quite an expansive set of medium-term missions in the White Paper spanning both economic and social missions."
Andy Haldane, Permanent Secretary for Levelling Up at the Cabinet Office
27th May 2022

Our Work

Our work is focused on the most pressing issues facing the United Kingdom today. Our five programmes are:

Levelling Up

Reducing economic disparities between places

Social Fabric

Repairing the ties that bind communities together

Getting to Zero

Practical and popular ways to decarbonise the economy

Future Politics

Understanding our changing political settlement

Science Superpower

A practical policy programme to transform science and innovation in the UK

Press

Our work is regularly featured in print, broadcast and online media, including through op-eds and broadcast interviews from the Onward team.

City AM

In search of a plug for the blackhole, Hunt must not cull investment in our future

Matt Burnett, Head of Onward's Science Superpower research programme writes for CityAM on why the governmen't R&D policies are vital to economic revival.

Politics Home

R&D funding must be protected from cuts

Head of Onward's Science Superpower research programme writes for Politics Home, setting out why R&D funding must be protected from cuts.

Media coverage for ‘After the fall’

Media coverage for 'After the fall: Where the Conservatives went wrong and how they can win again'.

The Times

Rishi Sunak is one misstep away from electoral oblivion

Onward's Head of Future Politics James Blagden writes for the Times on the polling results from Onward's new report 'After the Fall', on their implications for the new Prime Minister and Conservative electoral prospects.

The Times

A talented workforce, not tax breaks, are key if you want to attract jobs

Adam Hawksbee writes for The Times on the role of England's mayors in building a skills pipeline.

The Times

A talented workforce, not tax breaks, are key if you want to attract jobs

Adam Hawksbee writes for The Times on the role of England's mayors in building a talent pipeline in Britain.

City AM

In search of a plug for the blackhole, Hunt must not cull investment in our future

Matt Burnett, Head of Onward's Science Superpower research programme writes for CityAM on why the governmen't R&D policies are vital to economic revival.

Politics Home

R&D funding must be protected from cuts

Head of Onward's Science Superpower research programme writes for Politics Home, setting out why R&D funding must be protected from cuts.

Media coverage for ‘After the fall’

Media coverage for 'After the fall: Where the Conservatives went wrong and how they can win again'.

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